some Studies on puberty in buffaloes

One of the major problems in buffalo reproduction is late puberty anddelayed maturity. Although clearly, it is favour to reduce the non-productive phaseof the animal’s life i.e. the period which ends at the time of first breeding. Duringthe last decade several studies have been attempts to enhance puberty by usingeither nutritionally active compounds such as monensin sodium and (or) hormonaltreatment like gonadotropin releasing hormonal. The present investigation wasc~ITiedout on twenty-four prepubertal buffalo-heifers aged (9 - 13) months and weighted 190-230 kg. These heifers were kept on the experimental farm of the Animal Reproduction Research Institute to investigate the effect of monensin and(or) gonadotropin releasing horm one on the age and weight of puberty andmaturity in buffalo heifers. The experimental animals were randomly allotted intofour groups.Group I: 6 buffalo-heifers, fed a pelleted concentrate that mixed with 150 mgmonensin (Elancobanv’) / head / day.Group 11: 6 buffalo-heifers received the same ration as in group one but fDJ onemonth only, followed by intramuscular injection of 20 ug Buserelin(5 ml Receptal)®.Group Ill.: 6 buffalo-heifers injected intramuscularly with 20 ug Buserelin (5 mlReceptal)®•Group IV : 6 buffalo-heifers lived without any treatments as control group.Through the period of study, all animals were, weighted every monthto estimate the body weight at puberty and maturity. In addition allheifers were examined rectally twice weekly to monitor theappearance of pubertal estrus (heat). Blood samples were collectedtwice weekly with 3 - 4 days intervals. Serum was separated